Rewrite Personal statement with reapplication?

[cbabs]

is it recommended to rewrite your personal statement if you are reapplying? I'm thinking at least yes In my case since I'm reapplying 2 years after my 1st app. Also is it bad to say I had doubts about vet school but an event changed that? Thanks!

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[aggievethopeful2021]

is it recommended to rewrite your personal statement if you are reapplying? I'm thinking at least yes In my case since I'm reapplying 2 years after my 1st app. Also is it bad to say I had doubts about vet school but an event changed that? Thanks!

I am currently rewriting mine. This will be my third time applying but the last time I applied was two years ago. I feel I've changed so much as a person since I wrote that statement three years ago. I would go with what feels right. If you love your previous one, maybe keep most of it and just change a few things. If not, rewrite the whole thing. Don't think it's bad to write about that you had doubts and now that's changed. That just shows you understand the sacrifice and hard work that goes into vet school.

 

[TerraVet]

I definitely recommend re-writing your personal statement. I was told by a person who used to be on an admissions committee that it looks bad (i.e. "lazy") to just reuse your essay year after year. Plus, like aggievethopeful2021 said, you've (hopefully) changed and improved your application in the past year, and have more to say! I applied thrice and rewrote my essay every year, and I'm glad I did because I think they got better each time (despite me pulling fistfulls of hair out over every draft) and got closer to what I thought of as my "ideal" statement.

 

[LetItSnow]

is it recommended to rewrite your personal statement if you are reapplying?

Well, that depends. When you originally got rejected and went and did a file review, what did they say about your PS?

But yes. Why wouldn't you take advantage of the time to improve it?

 

[that redhead]

is it recommended to rewrite your personal statement if you are reapplying? I'm thinking at least yes In my case since I'm reapplying 2 years after my 1st app. Also is it bad to say I had doubts about vet school but an event changed that? Thanks!

I would absolutely re-write. I think it's safe to discuss doubts about vet school, but hopefully you can eloquently describe why those doubts are now subsided.

 

[Skimble]

I asked this same question to an adcom who told me my statement was extremely good, and she told me to absolutely write a new statement if applying to the same school. It's generally frowned upon to use the same one.

 

[finnickthedog]

By rewrite... does that necessarily mean a complete rewrite? How much of it needs to change?

I hadn't intended on rewriting my statement entirely. I thought it was pretty good and I haven't changed that much over the last year. I was just hoping to revise it here and there, maybe update it to incorporate some of my experience over the past year. I don't want it to end up reflecting poorly on me that my statement is very similar to last year though.

 

[Skimble]

By rewrite... does that necessarily mean a complete rewrite? How much of it needs to change?

I hadn't intended on rewriting my statement entirely. I thought it was pretty good and I haven't changed that much over the last year. I was just hoping to revise it here and there, maybe update it to incorporate some of my experience over the past year. I don't want it to end up reflecting poorly on me that my statement is very similar to last year though.

I was advised to do a complete rewrite and I wasn't sure I'd be able to write something as good, but I think what I wrote was probably slightly better. If possible, call the admissions counsilors for the schools you are reapplying to and see what they recommend.

 

[finnickthedog]

I was advised to do a complete rewrite and I wasn't sure I'd be able to write something as good, but I think what I wrote was probably slightly better. If possible, call the admissions counsilors for the schools you are reapplying to and see what they recommend.

You're breaking my heart Jil.

This was not a possibility that occured to me earlier and I wish it had. I don't like to amount of time I have left now. Seems weird to me for them to want a complete rewrite if the statement was already good in the first place. I mean, I'll try to do it if I have to but I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense. Ah well, I'll have to call and find out. I'm only applying to one school again so that at least makes finding out what they want relatively simple.

 

[vetmedhead]

My personal thinking is that you grow and change a lot between cycles and a personal statement should reflect that. Finn, even if you feel like you haven't changed much, I know at least two things about you now that nobody could have known at this point last year:

• You did not get in last cycle and had to deal with that
• You took it in stride, are still committed to pursuing the profession and are reapplying

Those are two big differences between you now and you last year, and if you do have to rewrite your PS just keep that in mind. Sometimes a difference of a year doesn't feel like much but I'm positive you have a lot of things you could talk about and reflect on if you did have to rewrite your PS.

 

[finnickthedog]

My personal thinking is that you grow and change a lot between cycles and a personal statement should reflect that. Finn, even if you feel like you haven't changed much, I know at least two things about you now that nobody could have known at this point last year:

• You did not get in last cycle and had to deal with that
• You took it in stride, are still committed to pursuing the profession and are reapplying

Those are two big differences between you now and you last year, and if you do have to rewrite your PS just keep that in mind. Sometimes a difference of a year doesn't feel like much but I'm positive you have a lot of things you could talk about and reflect on if you did have to rewrite your PS.

I feel like that easily falls under an update rather than a full rewrite though. There are parts of my statement I would have preferred to keep as is. Which is why I asked how much of a rewrite we're actually talking about.

It just sounds to me like even if my statement were hypothetically perfect (which of course it isn't), I would still be advised to rewrite it... basically just for the sake of having something different. Seems illogical to me.

It is what it is. I'll call my instate and see what I find out but like I said, I jusr wish I'd thought of this earlier. I wanted to submit in two weeks.

 

[Coopah]

I feel like that easily falls under an update rather than a full rewrite though. There are parts of my statement I would have preferred to keep as is. Which is why I asked how much of a rewrite we're actually talking about.

It just sounds to me like even if my statement were hypothetically perfect (which of course it isn't), I would still be advised to rewrite it... basically just for the sake of having something different. Seems illogical to me.

It is what it is. I'll call my instate and see what I find out but like I said, I jusr wish I'd thought of this earlier. I wanted to submit in two weeks.

I understand the desire for a rewrite, it could seem lazy. But if you change some things, add in new material, maybe cut some other stuff, it could read totally different without the need for a full rewrite. I would definitely talk to the school, but I don't think you need to scrap the entire thing. Just my two sense, I am most likely completely ignorant.

 

[PrincessButterCup]

My personal thinking is that you grow and change a lot between cycles and a personal statement should reflect that. Finn, even if you feel like you haven't changed much, I know at least two things about you now that nobody could have known at this point last year:

• You did not get in last cycle and had to deal with that
• You took it in stride, are still committed to pursuing the profession and are reapplying

Those are two big differences between you now and you last year, and if you do have to rewrite your PS just keep that in mind. Sometimes a difference of a year doesn't feel like much but I'm positive you have a lot of things you could talk about and reflect on if you did have to rewrite your PS.

This is exactly what WSU told me.

The way WSU put it is that they're probably not going to go back and compare your new ap to your old one, but if they do then they want to see that you've grown and changed and haven't just resubmitted the same materials. It's a huge no-no for them if you haven't put effort into rewriting and re-thinking your new application.